# Property maintenance in North York, from low rise rentals to Yonge Street

Updated 2026-10-03.

North York is the northern part of the [City of Toronto](https://roundhousegroup.ca/areas/toronto/), under the same by-laws as the rest of the city since 1998. Its rental stock leans older and lower than the skyline along Yonge Street suggests, and 30 of the City's 67 basement flooding study areas list at least one of its six wards, by our count from the City's map.

## Low rise more than towers

By our count from the City's [apartment building registration data](https://open.toronto.ca/dataset/apartment-building-registration/) (July 2026), about 930 RentSafeTO buildings sit in the six wards the City groups as North York. 586 of them are 3 to 6 storeys, 236 are 10 storeys or more, about nine in ten were built before 1981, and most list hot water heat and no air conditioning. A no heat call in a low rise building is often one boiler serving every unit, so it is answered 24/7 and the whole building is checked, not only the unit that called. See [rental apartment buildings](https://roundhousegroup.ca/buildings/rental-apartment-buildings/) and the [heat and cooling checker](https://roundhousegroup.ca/tools/heat-and-cooling-checker/).

## The Don, Hoggs Hollow and the flood studies

North York drains to the Don River, which TRCA calls one of the most urbanized watersheds in Canada ([TRCA](https://trca.ca/conservation/watershed-management/don-river/)). G. Ross Lord Dam, at Dufferin Street and Finch Avenue, was built in 1973 for West Don flood control and, with the Yonge-York Mills Channel, protects Hoggs Hollow ([TRCA](https://trca.ca/conservation/flood-risk-management/infrastructure/g-ross-lord-dam-hoggs-hollow/)). The City's [Basement Flooding Protection Program](https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/water-environment/managing-rain-melted-snow/basement-flooding/basement-flooding-protection-program/basement-flooding-protection-program-map/) has study areas across North York, from Bayview Village and Willowdale Park to Black Creek and Finch Avenue West. A backup in a basement unit goes to a licensed drain contractor with a camera, and the backwater valve and sump pump that follow can go to the City's [flooding subsidy](https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/water-environment/managing-rain-melted-snow/basement-flooding/basement-flooding-protection-subsidy-program/).

## North York Centre

Along Yonge Street from Highway 401 to Cummer Avenue, the City is reviewing the North York Centre Secondary Plan under [North York at the Centre](https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/planning-development/planning-studies-initiatives/north-york-at-the-centre/), where it counts more than 50,000 residents. In a condo building there, a leak between suites runs through the condo corporation as well as the unit owner. See [condo corporations](https://roundhousegroup.ca/condo-corporations/).

## Who does the work

Plumbing is done by licensed plumbers and drain work by licensed drain contractors. Gas work is done by TSSA registered contractors. We only use ECRA/ESA-Licensed Electrical Contractors. Pest control is done by licensed exterminators.

To send a North York job, [request work](https://roundhousegroup.ca/request-work/).

## Toronto by-laws that apply in North York

- A purpose built rental building of three or more storeys and ten or more rental units registers with the City every 12 months under RentSafeTO, and answers urgent service requests, a loss of heat, water, power or building security among them, within 24 hours and others within 7 days (sections 354-1.1, 354-2.1 and 354-3.1.C). Source: [Toronto Municipal Code, Chapter 354, Apartment Buildings](https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/municode/toronto-code-354.pdf)
- Where the landlord pays for heat, every unit must reach at least 21 C, measured 1.5 m above the floor, from October 1 to May 15 (Chapter 497, Indoor Temperature Standards, section 497-2.1 A, By-law 1511-2025, in force June 1, 2026). The dates come from By-law 1395-2024. Every dwelling unit's heating system must be able to hold 21 C at 1.5 m above the floor in habitable rooms and bathrooms (section 629-38.B). Source: [City of Toronto By-law 1511-2025, Chapter 497, Indoor Temperature Standards](https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/bylaws/2025/law1511.pdf)
- An installed cooling system runs from June 1 to September 30 and holds 26 C or less (section 497-2.2). A RentSafeTO apartment building that does not cool every unit keeps at least one existing indoor amenity space at 26 C or less over the same months, unless only construction could achieve it (section 497-2.3). Both rules sit in Chapter 497 from June 1, 2026, when By-law 67-2026 deleted the old cooling rule, section 629-38 F. Source: [City of Toronto By-law 1511-2025, Chapter 497, sections 497-2.2 and 497-2.3](https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/bylaws/2025/law1511.pdf)
- A house with four or more rooms rented as bedrooms to people who do not live as one household is a multi-tenant house and needs a City licence. In North York, as in Etobicoke and Scarborough, a multi-tenant house may have at most six rooms in all zones. Source: [City of Toronto, Multi-tenant house owners and operators](https://www.toronto.ca/community-people/housing-shelter/rental-housing-rights-information/multi-tenant-rooming-houses/multi-tenant-house-owners-operators/)
- Chapter 629, Property Standards, is repealed and replaced by By-law 1512-2025 on May 1, 2027, with new section numbers. Until then, all properties are kept free of pests and of conditions that encourage them (section 629-9). Source: [City of Toronto, By-law 1512-2025](https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/bylaws/2025/law1512.pdf)

## A renter district, mostly built before 1981

North York was a township from 1922, a borough from 1967 and a city from 1979, and joined the new City of Toronto on January 1, 1998 ([City of Toronto Archives](https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/accountability-operations-customer-service/access-city-information-or-records/city-of-toronto-archives/whats-in-the-archives/research-by-topic/resources-on-former-municipalities/)). The City groups six wards as North York for its Committee of Adjustment panel: York Centre, Eglinton-Lawrence, Don Valley West, Don Valley East, Don Valley North and Willowdale ([North York panel](https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/planning-development/committee-of-adjustment/north-york-schedule/)). In the 2021 Census, 55.7 percent of dwellings were rented in Don Valley East and 50.2 percent in York Centre, against 48.1 percent for Toronto as a whole ([City of Toronto ward profiles](https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/data-research-maps/neighbourhoods-communities/ward-profiles/)). Willowdale is the exception on age, with 30.9 percent of homes built before 1981 against 67.6 percent in Don Valley East.

## Related pages

- [Property Maintenance in Toronto](https://roundhousegroup.ca/areas/toronto/)
- [Rental apartment buildings](https://roundhousegroup.ca/buildings/rental-apartment-buildings/)
- [Heat and cooling checker](https://roundhousegroup.ca/tools/heat-and-cooling-checker/)

## Questions

### Is North York still a separate city?

No. North York became part of the City of Toronto on January 1, 1998. Every Toronto by-law applies there.

### Which by-law office covers North York?

It is split. Municipal Licensing and Standards West District serves Wards 6 and 8, and East District, at 1530 Markham Road, serves Wards 15 to 18. Both list 416-397-4150, and complaints go through 311.

### How many RentSafeTO buildings are in North York?

About 930 registered apartment buildings sit in the six wards the City groups as North York, by our count from the City's apartment building registration open data, July 2026. Most are 3 to 6 storeys, and 236 are 10 storeys or more.

### When does a North York landlord have to supply heat?

From October 1 to May 15, at 21 C or more in every unit the landlord heats, under section 497-2.1 A of Chapter 497 of the Toronto Municipal Code.